Montgomery County commissioners have established a fund to improve overdose response and recovery methods. The money comes from a $25,000 award given to Montgomery County and IUPUI’s Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health.

County health department administrator Amber Reed says they’re working to provide care and resources for people who come to emergency rooms after an overdose.

By the slimmest of margins, Tippecanoe County’s needle exchange program will survive for at least one more year.

A 2-1 vote by the county commissioners Monday came down only after Commissioner David Byers – who’d declined for weeks to state his stance publicly – voted in favor of a continuance.

Byers says he was swayed by talking to other commissioners at a recent state conference and by listening closely to public comment at Monday’s meeting from those who are unhappy about the exchange operating in a residential neighborhood in Lafayette.